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News
- Hong
Kong University and Beloit Reaffirm Ties
- World
Outbreak of SARS Prompts College Policy
- Scientific
Collaboration Grows
- Mackey
Professors: Why They Write
- Faculty
Earn Recognition
- Dance
Program Reaches [another!] Milestone
- Students
Publish Travel Magazine
- Beloiters
Launch Rowing Club
- Blues,
a Chinese Opera, International Poets, and More
- Finishing
Touches
- ‘Goody’s’ Death
Ends an Era
Hong
Kong University
and Beloit Reaffirm Ties
A
long-established Hong Kong university that has recently
made a transition to a liberal arts emphasis and Beloit—Wisconsin’s
oldest liberal arts college—confirmed their relationship
and established new ties when Edward K.Y. Chen, president
of Lingnan University, made his first official visit
to Beloit in March.
President
Chen met with students and faculty and participated in
discussions about the future relationship between the
two institutions.
On
behalf of Lingnan and Beloit, President Chen and Vice President
for Academic Affairs David Burrows signed a document of
understanding that acknowledged ties and confirmed the
schools’ mutual commitment to the liberal arts and
international education.
Beloit
students have the option of studying at Lingnan through
a Beloit study abroad program, and last year, a dozen
Lingnan students attended the Center for Language Studies
at Beloit, concentrating on English as a second language,
as they prepared for future study in the United States.
“There
are many parallels between Beloit and Lingnan in that they are
small, largely residential liberal arts colleges. This style
of education is not that common in Asia, and we are pleased
to be a part of the process by which they are designing programs
for the future,” says Elizabeth Brewer, director of international
education at Beloit.
World
Outbreak of SARS
Prompts College Policy
Given the strong presence of international students on
campus and faculty, staff, and students who travel widely,
Beloit has developed a policy regarding the outbreak of
SARS in certain parts of the world.
The College community was notified of the policy by letter
in June, in preparation for the fall semester.
Faculty and staff have been asked to contact the College
health service if they have spent time in areas with travel
advisories issued by the World Health Organization or the
Centers for Disease Control because of SARS.
Students who have been to these areas are being asked
to spend 10 days in an area unaffected by SARS before starting
their academic program at Beloit. After that period, College
health center staff will examine students to make sure
they are free of SARS symptoms.
In a statement, Vice President for Academic Affairs David
Burrows and Director of International Education Elizabeth
Brewer said they hope no travel advisories will remain
in effect by August, when the school term begins, but that
preparations need to be made now on the assumption that
they will.
The SARS policy was created during meetings with College
faculty and staff this spring under guidelines established
by the American College Health Association and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientific
Collaboration Grows
Nearly everyone realizes how dramatically the Internet has altered everyday
tasks for ordinary people.
What may not be as well-known outside the scientific community
are the capabilities of the “Access Grid,” a
collaboration software tool that runs on Internet2, a high
speed version of the Internet that is opening up a wealth
of resources for scientists and those who teach science.
A demonstration of the Access Grid took place at Beloit during
the 2003 BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium, a national program
based at the College which promotes curriculum reform in undergraduate
biology. “The Grid” increases collaboration through
teleconferencing technology with other experts while enabling
users to share large-scale data sets—like the human genome.
During the BioQUEST demonstration, Beloit was connected
to Argonne National Laboratory, Boston University, and
the University of Wisconsin- Madison, through the latter’s
connection.
“The Access Grid can bring people and data together that
would normally be limited to larger universities,” says
John Greenler, adjunct assistant professor of biology and a
workshop presenter.
The BioQUEST workshop, which takes place annually in the
spring, also featured keynote speaker Alan Kay. Thirty
years ago, Kay, a computer scientist, developed the early
technology behind the self-contained personal computer
we know now.
BioQUEST is online at www.bioquest.org.
Mackey
Professors: Why They Write
Since
1989, Beloit students have had the good fortune to work
with writers of distinction through the Lois Wilson Mackey’45
Chair in Creative Writing. The program brings an accomplished
writer to campus each fall to lead an advanced writing
course and present a public reading. Now
a new book, published by Beloit College Press, features
a collection of essays by the first 14 Mackey Professors
about what compels them to write.
Why
They Write, edited and with an introduction by Keefer Professor
of Humanities Tom McBride, features essays by Raymond Carver,
Tess Gallagher, William Stafford, Ursula K. Le Guin, Rick Bass,
Carolyn Kizer, Peter Matthiessen, Edward Hoagland, Denise Levertov,
Amy Hempel, Li-Young Lee, Ron Carlson, Bei Dao, and Patricia
Hampl.
“I
think that writing is like swinging a scythe in the dark, and
finding in the morning, if you’re lucky and looking from
the right angle, a mysterious well-formed pattern has emerged,”
writes Hempel in her essay, “Why I Write/That’s
What Dogs Do.”
The
book is available through The
Turtle Creek Bookstore or through Beloit
College Press, 700 College St., Beloit, Wis.
Faculty
Earn Recognition
Three
faculty members were recognized for their achievements
when the James R. Underkofler Undergraduate Teaching
Award and the Phee Boon Kang Prize for Innovation in
Technology-Based Instruction were presented in April. 
Jo
Ortel received the Underkofler Award. An associate professor
of art history, she is described by students as “upbeat,” “energized,” and “charismatic.” During
her acceptance speech, she exemplified these qualities
by displaying visuals to make points and discussing how
students need to learn to “find passion in a world
that bombards us with images.”
A
graduate of Smith College, she holds an M.A. in art history
from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in art history from
Stanford University. She has been awarded numerous grants
from Beloit College (including two professional development
grants), and she received an honorary fellowship from
the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison.
Shawn
Gillen, associate professor of English, and Natalie Gummer,
assistant professor of religious studies, shared the Phee Boon
Kang Prize, which recognizes the use of new technology in teaching.
Gillen
is founder and editor of Highbeams, Beloit’s
online literary journal. He develops Web sites for all his classes
and for the English department, which he chairs. For his magazine
feature writing class, he created a Web site called 24 Hours
in Beloit that documents a day in the city of Beloit.
He
has taught at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and
the Newberry Library in Chicago. He is a graduate of
St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and
holds a master’s degree in creative writing and
a Ph.D. in 19th-century American literature from the
University of Minnesota-Minneapolis.
Natalie
Gummer, assistant professor of religious studies and
Mouat Junior Professor of International Studies, creates
Web sites for all her classes and has written a computer
program that allows students to schedule office hours
with her online. She also hosts a give-and-take discussion
section on the Web and is an interactive online courseware
developer for Beloit. She was a lecturer, assistant thesis
advisor, and junior tutorial instructor at Harvard University
before joining the Beloit faculty in 2001. She holds
a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto,
and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard.
The
Underkofler Award was endowed by the Wisconsin Power and Light
Foundation (now the Alliant Energy Foundation) in honor of former
Chairman James R. Underkofler. It is given annually to five
faculty at Wisconsin’s independent colleges. The Phee
Boon Kang Prize for Innovation in Technology-Based Instruction,
awarded annually at Beloit, is named for Phee Boon Kang’73,
senior vice president and area manager for American Express
in Taiwan.
Dance
Program Reaches
[another!] Milestone
The 2002 Chelonia dance concert wasn’t
an easy act to follow.
That was the year student dancers first performed Wreath
of Memories on campus. Later, at the behest of the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington,
D.C., they did an encore in the nation’s capital.
The work about children living in a Nazi ghetto was choreographed
by Assistant Professor of Dance Chris Johnson, and the
student performance received a favorable review in the Washington
Post the next day.
In 2003, the dance company and Prof. Johnson reached yet
another milestone. A dance from Chelonia 2003
called “Holding Patterns,” also choreographed
by Johnson, was entered into the American College Dance
Festival for adjudication and made it as a finalist. In
March, five Beloit dancers, including two first-year students,
performed in the gala festival in Madison, Wis., alongside
dancers from much larger schools throughout the region,
like the Universities of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
“Being accepted into the gala is a huge accomplishment,
given the size of our dance program and the fact that at the
time we submitted “Holding Patterns” it had never
been performed in front of an audience,” says Johnson.
“It speaks to the quality of students we have been attracting
to the dance program.”
Allisa-Zee Hartmann’04, one of the dancers who performed
in the festival, is one of eight students profiled in the article
"Choosing
a Challenging Summer" in this issue of Beloit
College Magazine.
Students
Publish Travel Magazine
With
the demands of classes, studying, clubs, jobs, volunteering,
and everything else that goes on at Beloit, who would
think students would have time to start a magazine from
scratch?
But six students recently started publishing Authentic
Travel. The premiere issue debuted last spring with
funding assistance from the Coleman Foundation.
Meghan Hoover’06, the magazine’s president
and founder, leads a team of five students: Aaron Bauhs’05,
Ryan Schur’06, Marley Nelson’05, Pako Biakolo’03,
and Russell Jaffe’06.
Aimed at U.S. and international college students, the
magazine focuses on travel experiences that get people
outside their hotel rooms and deeper into the culture of
the country they are visiting.
When it comes to resorts and cruise ships, Authentic
Travel encourages readers to “leave them behind,” says
Hoover. The emphasis is on getting to know a country
and culture beyond the glossy ads and traditional landmarks.
The first issue has a strong focus on international medical
volunteer opportunities and shows the beauty of foreign
lands alongside their tragedies. From Jamaican political
unrest to medical missions in Honduras to an interview
with Christopher Reeve, it covers a wide slice of the
travel spectrum.
Authentic Travel is being distributed to college libraries,
study abroad offices, and travel agencies. The first few issues
will be sent out free; subscriptions and newsstand copies will
be available at a later date. The second issue is expected to
publish this August. Authentic Travel staff can be contacted
via email at: ATravelMagazine@excite.com
Beloiters
Launch Rowing Club
The efforts of students dedicated to forming a rowing club are gathering
momentum. With more than 30 active members, the club is on its way
to realizing its goal of building and training a team to participate
in regattas.
To date, the Beloit College Rowing Club has raised funds for
equipment through a variety of activities, including bake sales
and through proceeds from the sale of a tongue-in-cheek Tshirt.
Designed by Dave Coates’05, Prairie Village, Kan., a co-founder
of the club, the shirt depicts a person afloat in an upside
down turtle and the words: “We don’t need no damn
boats.”
Several
Beloit alumni have stepped up to help; one anonymous
donation was large enough to foot the entire bill for
a boat and a launch. BelCon (student government) has
also provided funding to get the club started. The club
reports that it is still in need of a second boat and
a boathouse that is large enough for sculling equipment.
This
is not the first time students have rallied to create
a rowing club. Forming a crew was also the topic of much
debate in Beloit’s earliest years, according to
information in the College Archives.
The
first Beloit crew team was formed as early as 1869, and
Beloit’s first regatta was held in 1873, but the
team had a number of difficulties keeping the crew going,
even though students campaigned for the club for decades.
An 1869
Collegiana editorial asked, “Why cannot Beloit College
have her boat clubs as well as Harvard and Yale? We certainly
have as fine advantages and as much muscle as either of them.
All we need is the practice.”
The
Beloit College Rowing Club, formed in 2001, is one of
more than 60 clubs organized by students and recognized
by student government. Many are focused on academic subjects,
such as the study of languages; others are formed around
athletic pursuits or other leisure interests.
Blues,
a Chinese Opera,
International Poets, and More
The fall 2003 semester will bring a world of interesting events to Beloit.
On
Friday, Sept. 5, Qi Shu Fang’s Peking Opera Company
will perform in Eaton Chapel. A week later (Sept. 12-13),
Folk ’n’ Blues, the annual music festival,
brings a full slate of musical acts to Pearsons Lawn.
During
Family Weekend (Sept. 18-20), poets from around the world
will gather at Beloit for an International Poetry Festival,
a panel discussion, and readings by Bei Dao and other
international poets in the Beloit College Poetry
Garden. Legendary blues harmonica player James
Cotton will also perform at Beloit on Saturday, Sept.
20.
Throughout
the fall semester, the written word will take center
stage, as a collection of rare books on loan from the
Remnant Trust inspires a series of presentations by faculty
on a variety of topics. A highlight of the rare book
series will be “The Book as an Object of Desire,” a
keynote address on Monday, Nov. 3, by Paul Gehl of Chicago’s
Newberry Library.
Another
highlight comes Friday, Nov. 21, when U.S. Poet Laureate
Billy Collins presents a reading of his work as part
of his residency at Beloit. Collins is the 2003 Mackey
Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing.
Finishing
Touches
The newly erected sign at the east edge of
the Middle College lawn has footings in both the past and
present. It was made from bricks taken from a house the
College purchased and renovated at 635 College St. According
to lore, that house—one of the first on the block
opposite Beloit’s first building—was built
from bricks left over from the construction of Middle College
in 1847.
‘Goody’s’ Death
Ends an Era
Prof. Bob Hodge
used to set two deadlines for papers. One was the classroom
deadline, and the other was the Goody’s deadline.
In those days, if you brought your paper in on time at
Goody’s, Hodge (professor of history) would buy
you a beer.
Francis Goodwin,
known as “Goody” to his many friends and relatives,
was the owner and operator of Goody’s Bar for 46 years
until he retired. He died in Beloit on April 20, 2003.
When the bar
opened in 1947, it drew a large crowd from the Fairbanks
Morse factory and was called a “working man’s
watering hole” by the Beloit Daily News.
It was only in later years that students and faculty
from the College started gathering at Goody’s.
“Townies and
College folks coexisted peacefully in the same bar,” says
Tim McKearn, long-time Beloit resident and assistant director
of the Beloit Fund at the College.
“Most people
remember Goody’s for the friendly atmosphere and good
conversation. It wasn’t a place where the music ever drowned
out the sound of voices. “It was a place for conversation,”
McKearn says.
Prof. Jerry
Gustafson’63 (economics and management) remembers
the jars of hard-boiled eggs and pickled sausages on
the counter. “You would come in and get a schooner
of beer and a pickled sausage. I feel sorry for people
who have never had a pickled sausage with their beer,” he
says.
It was also
a place for shuffleboard, a favorite among Goody’s
patrons. The shuffleboard table went with Goody’s
when the bar moved from its first home near the north
end of campus to downtown Beloit. After Goody’s
closed, the table moved to Suds O’Hanahan’s
Irish Pub on Grand Avenue in Beloit.
Goodwin was
a World War II veteran, a lifetime resident of Beloit,
and a father of two. He knew the names of all his regular
patrons, whether they were factory workers, townspeople,
students, faculty, or College staff. He was also “a
complete gentleman,” says Gustafson. “He
has a place in the hearts of generations of students.”
RELATED LINKS:
"From
the President: The Need for International Education,"
Beloit College Magazine, Summer 2003
Alumni and Parents home page
Beloit
College Office of International Education home page
BioQUEST home
page
Beloit
College Department of Theatre Arts and Dance - Dance
home page
Beloit
College Archives home page
International
Performing Arts Series home page
EMAIL:
Susan
Kasten - Editor, Beloit College Magazine
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News
A long-established Hong Kong university that has recently made a transition to a liberal arts emphasis and Beloit—Wisconsin’s oldest liberal arts college—confirmed their relationship and established new ties when Edward K.Y. Chen, president of Lingnan University, made his first official visit to Beloit in March. President
Chen met with students and faculty and participated in
discussions about the future relationship between the
two institutions. Beloit
students have the option of studying at Lingnan through
a Beloit study abroad program, and last year, a dozen
Lingnan students attended the Center for Language Studies
at Beloit, concentrating on English as a second language,
as they prepared for future study in the United States.
Given the strong presence of international students on campus and faculty, staff, and students who travel widely, Beloit has developed a policy regarding the outbreak of SARS in certain parts of the world. The College community was notified of the policy by letter in June, in preparation for the fall semester. Faculty and staff have been asked to contact the College health service if they have spent time in areas with travel advisories issued by the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control because of SARS. Students who have been to these areas are being asked to spend 10 days in an area unaffected by SARS before starting their academic program at Beloit. After that period, College health center staff will examine students to make sure they are free of SARS symptoms. In a statement, Vice President for Academic Affairs David Burrows and Director of International Education Elizabeth Brewer said they hope no travel advisories will remain in effect by August, when the school term begins, but that preparations need to be made now on the assumption that they will. The SARS policy was created during meetings with College faculty and staff this spring under guidelines established by the American College Health Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What may not be as well-known outside the scientific community are the capabilities of the “Access Grid,” a collaboration software tool that runs on Internet2, a high speed version of the Internet that is opening up a wealth of resources for scientists and those who teach science. A demonstration of the Access Grid took place at Beloit during the 2003 BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium, a national program based at the College which promotes curriculum reform in undergraduate biology. “The Grid” increases collaboration through teleconferencing technology with other experts while enabling users to share large-scale data sets—like the human genome. During the BioQUEST demonstration, Beloit was connected to Argonne National Laboratory, Boston University, and the University of Wisconsin- Madison, through the latter’s connection. “The Access Grid can bring people and data together that would normally be limited to larger universities,” says John Greenler, adjunct assistant professor of biology and a workshop presenter. The BioQUEST workshop, which takes place annually in the spring, also featured keynote speaker Alan Kay. Thirty years ago, Kay, a computer scientist, developed the early technology behind the self-contained personal computer we know now. BioQUEST is online at www.bioquest.org.
Since 1989, Beloit students have had the good fortune to work with writers of distinction through the Lois Wilson Mackey’45 Chair in Creative Writing. The program brings an accomplished writer to campus each fall to lead an advanced writing course and present a public reading. Now a new book, published by Beloit College Press, features a collection of essays by the first 14 Mackey Professors about what compels them to write. Why They Write, edited and with an introduction by Keefer Professor of Humanities Tom McBride, features essays by Raymond Carver, Tess Gallagher, William Stafford, Ursula K. Le Guin, Rick Bass, Carolyn Kizer, Peter Matthiessen, Edward Hoagland, Denise Levertov, Amy Hempel, Li-Young Lee, Ron Carlson, Bei Dao, and Patricia Hampl. “I think that writing is like swinging a scythe in the dark, and finding in the morning, if you’re lucky and looking from the right angle, a mysterious well-formed pattern has emerged,” writes Hempel in her essay, “Why I Write/That’s What Dogs Do.” The
book is available through The
Turtle Creek Bookstore or through Beloit
College Press, 700 College St., Beloit, Wis. Faculty Earn Recognition Three
faculty members were recognized for their achievements
when the James R. Underkofler Undergraduate Teaching
Award and the Phee Boon Kang Prize for Innovation in
Technology-Based Instruction were presented in April. Jo Ortel received the Underkofler Award. An associate professor of art history, she is described by students as “upbeat,” “energized,” and “charismatic.” During her acceptance speech, she exemplified these qualities by displaying visuals to make points and discussing how students need to learn to “find passion in a world that bombards us with images.” A graduate of Smith College, she holds an M.A. in art history from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in art history from Stanford University. She has been awarded numerous grants from Beloit College (including two professional development grants), and she received an honorary fellowship from the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gillen is founder and editor of Highbeams, Beloit’s online literary journal. He develops Web sites for all his classes and for the English department, which he chairs. For his magazine feature writing class, he created a Web site called 24 Hours in Beloit that documents a day in the city of Beloit. He has taught at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and the Newberry Library in Chicago. He is a graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and holds a master’s degree in creative writing and a Ph.D. in 19th-century American literature from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. Natalie Gummer, assistant professor of religious studies and Mouat Junior Professor of International Studies, creates Web sites for all her classes and has written a computer program that allows students to schedule office hours with her online. She also hosts a give-and-take discussion section on the Web and is an interactive online courseware developer for Beloit. She was a lecturer, assistant thesis advisor, and junior tutorial instructor at Harvard University before joining the Beloit faculty in 2001. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard. The Underkofler Award was endowed by the Wisconsin Power and Light Foundation (now the Alliant Energy Foundation) in honor of former Chairman James R. Underkofler. It is given annually to five faculty at Wisconsin’s independent colleges. The Phee Boon Kang Prize for Innovation in Technology-Based Instruction, awarded annually at Beloit, is named for Phee Boon Kang’73, senior vice president and area manager for American Express in Taiwan. Dance
Program Reaches
The 2002 Chelonia dance concert wasn’t an easy act to follow. That was the year student dancers first performed Wreath of Memories on campus. Later, at the behest of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., they did an encore in the nation’s capital. The work about children living in a Nazi ghetto was choreographed by Assistant Professor of Dance Chris Johnson, and the student performance received a favorable review in the Washington Post the next day. In 2003, the dance company and Prof. Johnson reached yet another milestone. A dance from Chelonia 2003 called “Holding Patterns,” also choreographed by Johnson, was entered into the American College Dance Festival for adjudication and made it as a finalist. In March, five Beloit dancers, including two first-year students, performed in the gala festival in Madison, Wis., alongside dancers from much larger schools throughout the region, like the Universities of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. “Being accepted into the gala is a huge accomplishment, given the size of our dance program and the fact that at the time we submitted “Holding Patterns” it had never been performed in front of an audience,” says Johnson. “It speaks to the quality of students we have been attracting to the dance program.” Allisa-Zee Hartmann’04, one of the dancers who performed in the festival, is one of eight students profiled in the article "Choosing a Challenging Summer" in this issue of Beloit College Magazine.
But six students recently started publishing Authentic Travel. The premiere issue debuted last spring with funding assistance from the Coleman Foundation. Meghan Hoover’06, the magazine’s president and founder, leads a team of five students: Aaron Bauhs’05, Ryan Schur’06, Marley Nelson’05, Pako Biakolo’03, and Russell Jaffe’06. Aimed at U.S. and international college students, the magazine focuses on travel experiences that get people outside their hotel rooms and deeper into the culture of the country they are visiting. When it comes to resorts and cruise ships, Authentic
Travel encourages readers to “leave them behind,” says
Hoover. The emphasis is on getting to know a country
and culture beyond the glossy ads and traditional landmarks.
The first issue has a strong focus on international medical
volunteer opportunities and shows the beauty of foreign
lands alongside their tragedies. From Jamaican political
unrest to medical missions in Honduras to an interview
with Christopher Reeve, it covers a wide slice of the
travel spectrum.
Several Beloit alumni have stepped up to help; one anonymous donation was large enough to foot the entire bill for a boat and a launch. BelCon (student government) has also provided funding to get the club started. The club reports that it is still in need of a second boat and a boathouse that is large enough for sculling equipment. This
is not the first time students have rallied to create
a rowing club. Forming a crew was also the topic of much
debate in Beloit’s earliest years, according to
information in the College Archives. An 1869 Collegiana editorial asked, “Why cannot Beloit College have her boat clubs as well as Harvard and Yale? We certainly have as fine advantages and as much muscle as either of them. All we need is the practice.” The Beloit College Rowing Club, formed in 2001, is one of more than 60 clubs organized by students and recognized by student government. Many are focused on academic subjects, such as the study of languages; others are formed around athletic pursuits or other leisure interests. Blues,
a Chinese Opera,
On Friday, Sept. 5, Qi Shu Fang’s Peking Opera Company will perform in Eaton Chapel. A week later (Sept. 12-13), Folk ’n’ Blues, the annual music festival, brings a full slate of musical acts to Pearsons Lawn. During Family Weekend (Sept. 18-20), poets from around the world will gather at Beloit for an International Poetry Festival, a panel discussion, and readings by Bei Dao and other international poets in the Beloit College Poetry Garden. Legendary blues harmonica player James Cotton will also perform at Beloit on Saturday, Sept. 20. Throughout the fall semester, the written word will take center stage, as a collection of rare books on loan from the Remnant Trust inspires a series of presentations by faculty on a variety of topics. A highlight of the rare book series will be “The Book as an Object of Desire,” a keynote address on Monday, Nov. 3, by Paul Gehl of Chicago’s Newberry Library. Another highlight comes Friday, Nov. 21, when U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins presents a reading of his work as part of his residency at Beloit. Collins is the 2003 Mackey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing. Finishing Touches
The newly erected sign at the east edge of the Middle College lawn has footings in both the past and present. It was made from bricks taken from a house the College purchased and renovated at 635 College St. According to lore, that house—one of the first on the block opposite Beloit’s first building—was built from bricks left over from the construction of Middle College in 1847. ‘Goody’s’ Death
Ends an Era Prof. Bob Hodge used to set two deadlines for papers. One was the classroom deadline, and the other was the Goody’s deadline. In those days, if you brought your paper in on time at Goody’s, Hodge (professor of history) would buy you a beer. Francis Goodwin, known as “Goody” to his many friends and relatives, was the owner and operator of Goody’s Bar for 46 years until he retired. He died in Beloit on April 20, 2003. When the bar opened in 1947, it drew a large crowd from the Fairbanks Morse factory and was called a “working man’s watering hole” by the Beloit Daily News. It was only in later years that students and faculty from the College started gathering at Goody’s. “Townies and College folks coexisted peacefully in the same bar,” says Tim McKearn, long-time Beloit resident and assistant director of the Beloit Fund at the College. “Most people remember Goody’s for the friendly atmosphere and good conversation. It wasn’t a place where the music ever drowned out the sound of voices. “It was a place for conversation,” McKearn says. Prof. Jerry Gustafson’63 (economics and management) remembers the jars of hard-boiled eggs and pickled sausages on the counter. “You would come in and get a schooner of beer and a pickled sausage. I feel sorry for people who have never had a pickled sausage with their beer,” he says. It was also a place for shuffleboard, a favorite among Goody’s patrons. The shuffleboard table went with Goody’s when the bar moved from its first home near the north end of campus to downtown Beloit. After Goody’s closed, the table moved to Suds O’Hanahan’s Irish Pub on Grand Avenue in Beloit. Goodwin was a World War II veteran, a lifetime resident of Beloit, and a father of two. He knew the names of all his regular patrons, whether they were factory workers, townspeople, students, faculty, or College staff. He was also “a complete gentleman,” says Gustafson. “He has a place in the hearts of generations of students.”
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